Royal Peculiar.html



A Royal Peculiar (or Royal Peculier) is a place of worship that falls directly under the jurisdiction of the British monarch, rather than a diocese. The concept dates to Anglo-Saxon times, when a church could ally itself with the monarch and therefore not be subject to the bishopric of the area. Later it reflected the relationship between the Norman and Plantagenet kings and the English church.

Royal Peculiars of the present day are:

• The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster commonly known as Westminster Abbey, it contains Henry VII's chapel which is the chapel of the Order of the Bath.
• St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle (The Sovereign's Free Chapel of St George in the Sovereign's Castle of Windsor), along with the Royal Chapel of All Saints, Windsor
• The chapels associated with the Chapel Royal, which originally referred not to a building, but to an establishment in the Royal Household; a body of priests and singers to explicitly serve the spiritual needs of the sovereign. There are a further six Royal chapels outside of the United Kingdom.
  • The Chapel Royal, St James' Palace
  • The Queen's Chapel, St James' Palace
  • The Chapel Royal, Hampton Court
  • The Chapel of St John the Evangelist in the Tower of London
  • The Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London

• The Royal Memorial Chapel, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
• The Royal Foundation of St Katharine, in Ratcliff, London

• The Queen's Chapel of the Savoy is Peculiar, but not Royal in the usual sense. It is exempt from any bishop's jurisdiction, but is a private chapel of the sovereign in right of the Duchy of Lancaster, not the Crown. It is the chapel of The Royal Victorian Order. The number of members in recent years has outgrown the available space in the Savoy Chapel so the service for those who have received awards is now held in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle every four years.

The following chapels of the Inns of Court are extra-diocesan, and therefore peculiars, but not Royal.

• The Peculiar of the Temple Church
• The Peculiar of Lincoln's Inn
• The Peculiar of Gray's Inn

See also

• Enclave
• Extra-parochial area

External links and references

• Diocese of London - Cathedral and Royal Peculiars
• Report of Review Group on the Royal Peculiars 2001

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